Pronouncing its ruling on the appeal, Compat Chairman VS Sirpurkar said there is "no locus standi" for the appellant.

The tribunal's ruling comes as a relief for Jet and Etihad since the deal has run into various regulatory hurdles. The deal also marked the first instance of FDI in an Indian carrier by an overseas airline.

On the other hand, Bhargava had contended that CCI failed to carry out an assessment of the appreciable adverse effect on competition and "placed all passengers and indeed the entire airline industry into a grave risk of suffering irreparable damage and permanently eliminating competition."